An unimpressed Denis Connerton believes the powers-that-be jumped the gun by postponing Longford's Allianz Football League Division 3 clash with Tipperary more than 24 hours before the game was due to take place.
Longford received notification of the game's postponement at 12.30pm yesterday as it was felt that the Semple Stadium pitch wouldn't be able to stage a double-header this afternoon (the Allianz Hurling League tie between Tipperary and Clare went ahead as scheduled) due to the recent heavy rainfall.
"We heard yesterday afternoon that the match was cancelled because the pitch would not be able to take two matches. Of course, the football had to go and not the hurling, which is very annoying from our point of view because we had all of our preparation done for the match, we had our travel arrangements made, our catering, and what have you," the Longford manager said in an interview with balls.ie
"It's the only match off in the four divisions in the National Football League, so you would have to wonder about other venues in Tipperary, and why there wasn't another pitch available. I was given a reason that the pitch was not able to play two matches.
"We were informed very early. At around 12.30pm yesterday, we were notified that the game was off. That was very early to call the game off."
The postponement leaves the midlanders facing a hectic schedule over the next few weeks, and without their U21s for next weekend's re-fixture.
"We will be without our under-21s next weekend. We would have had them this weekend, after their exploits against Kildare [in the Leinster U21 quarter-final on Wednesday]. Now we will not have them in our squad next weekend, that's four players out of our squad. Also, we now have to play four matches in three weeks, which, for a small county, with limited resources, is going to be very, very difficult.
"We're fuming that the match has been called off today. There's a reason for the weeks' break in the National League: it's an opportunity for teams to refresh themselves. That opportunity has been denied to us now. We will have to play four matches in three weeks, and we will have to travel to three of those matches.
"We have to do all that [planning] all over again. At this stage, we don't know whether the match is on a Saturday, or whether the match is on a Sunday. And we don't even know the time, we don't even know the date, and we don't even know the venue of the match," he added.
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